Melody
by Mind's Odyssey
Summary: Where are you taking me? * Talk about ungrateful with a capital 'U'. * Quit talking and fight! * Why was it so familiar…? * Hey, you okay? * I wanted to keep you safe, didn't you know? * I won't… forget you… I will return… * You just found him, remembered him being so significant to you, and he was already gone before you could see him... (AU) Axel One shot. Rated T just in case.


**Kingdom Hearts One Shots Series  
****06 – Melody**

Pairing: Axel x Reader

[Setting: About 1000 years ago in a feudal land.]

… _What are these people coming to me for? Don't come near me!_

She was in a cell somewhere in a dungeon, with her hands chained up and locked. She didn't commit any heinous crime; she was only leading a small troop of rebels from the rebel army her father established, and she was planning on striking an assault against the diabolical emperor, who ruled this land and made everyone suffered. Life was getting tougher and the first to snap were the farmers, who worked from hours to end for nothing to feed them and their families. The emperor kept on demanding taxes and the farmers had no choice but to unite together and thus the rebel army was formed.

Her father was the leader, and since he had her as his only child, she was naturally the second-in-command. Three days ago, her father was injured pretty badly during an ambush, and when he was brought back, she was so furious that she immediately grabbed her sword and darted out of the rebel army's headquarters, leading some of her allies. And to her surprise, she found the emperor with his henchmen strolling down a vacant path near a forest. "This is it," she thought, smirking slightly, "I can take my sweet revenge… Prepare to die, Xemnas!" After she gave out some orders to her allies silently, she readied herself and dashed out from the bushes she was hiding in earlier.

She caught the guards off guard, and she almost cut his neck but one of his guards blocked her incoming sword. She had to jump backwards to evade the counterattack, and her allies charged out from all directions. A fierce battle started and unfortunately, her troops were easily outnumbered by the increasing forces of the imperial army. Maybe she picked the wrong venue to fight, since it was near the palace. When she least expected it, someone knocked her out, and when she finally regained consciousness, she was already locked up in jail.

Much to her displeasure, two guards came over to her after they received an order from their leader. She glared hard at them while preparing herself. Who knew what these kooks were trying to do. But they merely unlocked the cell door, and one of them commanded, "Hey, you, Get out now!" She thought, "What? So kind as to let me go? No way…" Though skeptical, she still inched closer to the door, and when she got close enough, the guards lost their patience and yanked her out.

"Hey! Where are you taking me?!"

She tried to struggle, but due to the injuries she endured during the failed ambush days ago, her attempts to break away mattered nothing to both the guards. They dragged her to another door, which was already opened upon arrival. The light pouring in blinded her; she was used to the darkness of the dungeon. When she finally adjusted herself, she was already in a middle of an enclosed field. "Looks like a coliseum…" she thought, glancing around her. And then the guards decided it's time to let her be on her own, so they unlocked her chains and threw her to the ground, which was sand. She staggered a few steps; she was not going to be pushed around like that, let alone fell down to their will.

She glanced around cautiously, wondering why they would bring her to such a bizarre place, until she heard a booming voice, "Nice to see you still in good shape…" She gasped lightly and looked up to a high platform to search for the source of the voice. Sure enough, up there was the person she wanted to slaughter so much – Xemnas. The emperor looked down at her with a menacing face, and that evil smirk plastered on his face would make anyone flinch, but not her, not at a time like this, she directed two orbs of hatred up at him, returning the glare. Her fists clenched so hard she thought her fingers were going to impale her palms. She shouted, "What do you want, you devil?"

"Insolent brat… Still attempt to struggle in such a desperate situation?" He shouted loud enough for her to hear, she didn't answer him. Another guard beside him yelled, "Hey! Bow before His Majesty!" Xemnas merely flicked his hand dismissively at the guard, signaling there was no need for that. He then boomed, "Well then, for the punishment, you would have to fight, have fun with your torture…"

With that, another metal door opened with a loud clank. She turned her head to that direction and she saw a cloaked person walked out. From the body build, she could tell he was male. The figure was slim, yet muscular. He was taller than her, but she couldn't guess his age, since his face was hidden under the black hood of the cloak. But, why did she even care for details? She was supposed to fight that person, and judging her conditions, she would have to take this more seriously. Heck, she didn't even have her trustworthy sword with her!

As if on cue, a sword was thrown at her and it hit the ground with a thud. She was startled, but she still picked it up. She looked at her opponent, and he merely said, "I wouldn't fight against a weaponless young woman, so just use it." "… Whatever, your loss," she mumbled, putting herself in a fight stance with the sword ready.

"Talk about ungrateful with a capital 'U'."  
"Quit talking and fight!"

And so, they engaged in yet another battle. She dashed towards him, slashing with her sword from right to left in a large arc. He jumped back to evade the blade, and when he landed on the ground, he counterattacked with his sword. She parried his consecutive attacks and immediately saw an opening, and that meant a weak spot. She quickly slid to his side while blocking his sword with hers, and she kicked the back of his knee and elbowed his side. As expected, the man flew to the side and he managed to support himself with a palm when he was about to collapse to the ground. He balanced himself and got up, she could feel his gaze on her, but she merely stared at him in a ready pose. He dusted some sand off his cloak, and then he said, "Well now…"

Surprisingly, he tossed his sword aside, and whistled as if signaling something. Seconds later, she heard something swishing in the air, when she turned her head to see, she had to bite back a surprised gasp and dodge; two Chakrams flew out from nowhere (or somebody threw them out?) and was spinning around in air like boomerangs. She performed a dodge roll, and when she regained composure and balance, she saw the man with his arms extended, with a Chakram in each hand. He was looking at the ground, and when he looked up again, he was glaring right at her and he warned, "You asked for it."

This time, he was gaining the upper hand, being dominant with the offensive side. She was in a rather disadvantageous situation, and before she knew it, she felt her energy drained away bit by bit, for she hadn't eaten anything since she had been captured. He was slashing at her with his Chakrams, and sparks bounced off whenever metals of her sword and his Chakrams clashed. She thought of something and dived away from his attack and grabbed his abandoned sword, dual wielding them. With one sword as the shield, she managed to get closer to him, and when she finally spotted a chance, she brandished her sword and successfully slashed the side of his hood. He seemed to be distracted by her sword all of a sudden…

And then the hood slid off, revealing her opponent's face entirely. The person had a red spiky hair that stood out of the crowd and if she stared at it too long, she would see stars. Below his green eyes were two upside down triangular birthmarks. She was about to attack him, but then suddenly a flash appeared before her eyes and something popped up in her mind:

"… _Help!"  
"Don't worry! I-"_

_Too late_, before she could even realize what was going on, the man already closed in and he whispered in her ear, "Good night." And before she knew it, he slammed a karate chop on the back of her neck, causing her eyes to widen and she passed out the next second. She collapsed to the ground with him standing behind her, panting. "That was not your normal combat performance, Axel…" The emperor wasn't too amused to see the outcome; Axel was one of his best fighters in the arsenal, the rebel army's girl managed to kick him and even slashed his hood off. Axel sighed and said, "Well, at least she's down, what now?"

"Do not use that tone on me. Now lock her back into the cell. I need to come up with more torturing ideas…"

* * *

"Ugh… I'm here… again?" She woke up once again to realize she was back in the same old cell again. But this time, it was her legs which were chained up. She was so tired, so she didn't even bother to try to break free; it's only a waste of energy for the time being. She leaned against the wall and got a better view of outside her cell. She heard someone saying "changing night shifts" and a man approached her cell. When he got closer, she recognized him as the man she fought before, Axel.

She averted her gaze away from him, though she was wondering why he came here. The footsteps stopped, and she heard him asking, "Hey there." She still didn't look at him, but she adjusted her position to a more comfortable one.

"Hey, don't ignore me like that, say something," he said, with a slight teasing tone in his voice. She turned her head slightly, just enough to see him and said, "I have nothing to talk to you about." She hoped he could just leave her alone for the moment. "Eh, fine…" said Axel. He turned around and sat at a table nearby her cell. He let out a small sigh, and he started to hum a melody. And to her surprise, it was a melody she heard the farmers humming back then. It was a melody she heard the adults humming, and she found it so catchy in a way and she learned it quickly. It was a lively one, full of hope and fresh starts. But… it didn't really turned out to be real anyway… What a pity.

Finally, she couldn't hold the curiosity in anymore, so she turned over and asked him, "… Hey…" He suddenly stopped humming abruptly, never expecting her to speak up first. He stared at her and she cleared her throat a little and asked, "Where… did you… originate from?" She felt asking that was better than asking how he learned that song, since only the farmers knew the melody. "Why would you ask that?" he asked, still staring at her. "That melody…" she trailed off, looking at the ground.

Axel said, "Oh, that one? Well… I kind of learned it from someone I once knew. But… what does that have to do with where I came from?"

"No, nothing…" she said. She mentally kicked herself; she almost gave away the most important intelligence – the rebel's army's origin! Even though the army had long battled against the emperor, the rebel army was safe due to their unknown headquarters. She thought of shutting her mouth up for the rest of the night. But her stomach had better ideas… It grumbled without her consent.

Suddenly the man outside said, "Oh, right, almost forgot my mission…" She looked up at him, he bent down to pick up a box. He handed the box to her, and he said, "Here's the food I know you wanted so badly, so eat up."

Her eyes darted back and forth between the box and him, and then Axel said, not amused, "Do I look like someone who would put poison in one's food?" "… No." "Glad to hear that." After he said that, he placed the box on the floor and he left. She hesitantly picked up the box and opened it, what came into view were some hot steaming buns. Picking one up she placed a large bite on it. How long was it since she had something like this? Maybe a month or so, since farmers in this land were starving for some time.

Axel walked up the seemingly endless spiral stairs leading to the exit of the dark dungeon, while thinking to himself, "That attack technique of hers… why was it so familiar…?"

* * *

She had long lost track of time, she didn't know how long it had been since her arrival to this palace or dungeon, well, the fact was she didn't even have the time to think about it, because that evil emperor subjected her to endless fights every day, and only allow her to be locked up again in her cell when night came. She thought Xemnas was some sort of a devil that found it amusing or interesting to watch an already injured person (especially a girl) struggling in the torturing tournaments he arranged. Seeing her squirming and struggling must've been such a comedy for him, huh? And to make matters worse, the warriors she faced were getting stronger and stronger with each battle, though she didn't see that redhead in the battlefield except at night in the dungeon. He would always sit at the same table, occasionally humming that melody softly, while she just leaned against the wall as usual, making use of what time she had left to rest.

At some point, she lost herself in his humming, she thought of her family, her best friends and allies. And the most confusing thing was, whenever she fell asleep, she would always have the same dream. The dream was about when she was younger, like 10 years old or something. Life was not so bad back then, and she even had a best friend. But she couldn't make out his face; the person existed as a shadow in her dreams. They were always together like Siamese twins. And from the deep bonds she observed in her dreams, they seemed to know each other since early childhood.

But the dreams were fragmented, they didn't seem connected, but she could always piece them up together to form a story. But when days passed, she didn't have enough energy to think about it anymore, and not to mention she also suffered from some injuries from the battles. And tonight, she came back limping, with bruises all over her and some cuts here and there. And the worst thing was the people here never seemed too kind as to heal her or something.

She lied down on the ground, breathing heavily while holding her right arm at where a deep gash was. She slipped her eyes closed, feeling the pain roaming within her bones and muscles. And then Axel came for his night shift as usual. She heard footsteps, but they started from a normal pace to a quickened one. She could tell he was somewhat panicked. "Hey, you alright?" he asked, but she was too exhausted to reply.

"Oh great…" he muttered, glancing around him to make sure no one was nearby. And then she heard metal clinking. The cell door was unlocked and he came in. She pushed herself up slowly and she saw him looking down at her wounds, a small frown on his face. "Well… sorry for today, for I… don't seem to be in the condition… to talk to you," she said, slowly making herself to sit, which was painful. He took a last cautious glance around him, and then he pulled out something from his leather sheath. It was a small bottle, and he handed it to her, saying, "Drink this one." She eyed him suspiciously, she couldn't help it, even though he wasn't an enemy to her, but it was her instinct whenever she was severely injured, she couldn't trust anyone that easily.

Axel suddenly had a serious look on his usual cocky face, and even the tone he used was fierce enough to make her flinch slightly, "You listen to me and drink this, _now_." And then, he shoved the bottle into her hands, but he didn't seem to notice her flinching. She looked at him one more time, and then she pulled out the cork at the opening of the bottle and directed it to her mouth. She took a few gulps of the liquid in the bottle and set it down. After she swallowed it down, Axel asked, with the serious tone gone, "So, how did you feel?" "… I-"

All of a sudden, she felt a raging, burning sensation in her abdomen and it forced her to bent forward, coughing hard. Axel was startled at her reaction, and she just kept coughing, and when she removed her hand that covered her mouth, the dark red patch on her palm just told her that she had coughed up blood. And what's worse, she felt some blood dripping out from her mouth. She felt herself went weak and wobbly like jelly. Axel finally got over his shock and he grabbed her by the shoulders, asking frantically, "H-hey, you okay?!"

He then picked up the bottle and observed, and he smelled the mouth of the bottle. Then he cursed and muttered under his breath, "Crap, it's poison! Why would Xemnas hand me poison?" He received this from Xemnas about three days ago. Now, she was gasping for air, but her breathing rate was very irregular. She felt her limbs turning cold slowly. She managed to squeeze out a few words in between pained moans, "Why… you…!" Axel had no choice but to let her lie down on the floor, his mind was racing like an untamable wild horse.

"I have to get the antidote… Xemnas must have it. But how could I tell him I poisoned someone, particularly a prisoner? That won't make sense…" Suddenly, he got an idea, a rather reckless one. Without giving much thought, he grabbed the bottle in a swift motion and he drank the rest of the content of the bottle. In matters of seconds, Axel felt the urge to burst his lungs, but he held it in, he quickly got out of the cell and let the lock hang loosely on the door. "You… Wait for me…!" said Axel, and then he ran for the stairs to find Xemnas.

* * *

After about five minutes, Axel rushed back to the dungeon. The events happened earlier were still fresh in his mind: he barged into Xemnas's throne room and he spitted out lots of blood, and the startled emperor didn't look very amused, for his precious carpet was tainted a large patch of bloody red. After some negotiations, Axel managed to get the antidote and he exited after drinking half of it. He sneaked away with the other half. He had to give the other half to her so she wouldn't have to die. By the time he reached her cell, she could barely open her eyes, all she could do was gasping for air, like a fish deprived of water. Axel kicked the door open and knelt down beside her, picking the upper part of her body up to his lap.

Axel wasted no time and fed her the rest of the antidote. She almost choked on the intruding liquid, but managed to swallow it subconsciously. After he wiped away some dried blood on her mouth, he tested for her pulse by placing two fingers at where her left carotid artery was. To his content, the pulsing rate was there, though soft. It seemed she was lucky enough to escape death.

Axel let out a sigh of relief, and after having been through all the adrenaline rush, he felt worn out very soon. Even though he just wanted to fell asleep right there with her sleeping on his lap, but being with a skeptical emperor like Xemnas for ten years, he knew he would arouse suspicion from others, and unwanted troubles would be waiting for him. Therefore, Axel carried her to a corner and let her lie on a pile of hay. That would keep her from feeling cold. And then, Axel went out of the cell and locked the door once again. Finally he sat down at the usual table and soon fell asleep on the spot.

Unbeknownst to him, she was well aware of the things happening even though she was only a step away from hell. At the thought of him drinking the poison only to save her caused a warm tingling sensation worming its way to her heart. She even blushed slightly at some point. Well, he didn't seem to be the usual Axel she perceived during these days of entrapment. She made a point to thank him later, after she had recovered, that is. Soon, exhaustion took over her and she willingly shut her eyes, feeling herself dissipating into her dreams. In that dream, she thought she heard someone humming that melody again… But its effect was that of a lullaby, so soothing and warm…

Little did they know, in the shadows, there was a person observing them. "So… this is what was making him so strange these days. Hmm… interesting…"

* * *

One day… "Axel," said a blue-haired man, standing before Axel, who was enjoying himself under a shady tree. Axel replied, looking at the man, "Hey Saïx, what's up?" After saying that, Axel got up from his spot and faced the man fully.

"Lord Xemnas wants to see you right now," said Saïx, his tone ever so emotionless.  
"Oh… sure, off I go," said Axel, and then he brushed past Saïx to head to the palace door.

Before he could get any further, Saïx extended a hand and grabbed Axel by his right shoulder, without looking at Axel, he said, "You ought to be careful. His Majesty doesn't look very happy about this matter…" Axel turned his head slightly to see the blue-haired man. "… Roger that." With that being said, Axel left. What could possibly be waiting for him behind that door?

In Xemnas's throne room… "Your Majesty," greeted Axel, bowing slightly to the emperor, who was sitting on his throne. After Axel straightened himself, Xemnas said, "Axel, have you recovered from the poison?" To tell the truth, Axel wasn't expecting the man before him would be concerned of his well-being, still he answered nevertheless, "Thank you, Your Majesty, I felt a lot better now."

"Hmm, that's good to hear, I wouldn't want to lose one of my best men around here," said Xemnas, with a slightly… wicked smile on his face. Axel didn't know whether to feel flattered or not, but his face didn't betray him any of his thoughts. "What was he cooking up?" thought Axel. Why was he feeling as if something bad was about to happen?

Suddenly, out of the blue, Xemnas asked, "Back to the subject; how is our dear prisoner doing? I heard that she suffered from a lot of injuries." Axel tensed up internally, why, pray tell, was he bringing up this topic for? Axel thought for a while and replied, "She is a tough one, after being through all those battles, it's a miracle she could still deal with it."

"You seem to know a lot about her…"  
"Well, can't help it, I am supposed to keep an eye on her; my responsibility."  
"Responsibility? As in guarding her from dying?"

"_What?!"_ Axel felt his eyes grew wide upon hearing this from the emperor. Xemnas seemed amused to see his fighter's reaction, thus he cracked a rather wicked smile. Axel had to fight back his impulse to snap then and there, and he said, "I'm terribly sorry, Your Majesty, but I seriously don't know what you are implying." "Oh? So you're not going to care whether the girl dies or not?" "… Of course not…"

Suddenly, Xemnas sprang up from his seat, brandished a sword and slashed it against Axel, only stopping at about 2 centimeters away from his throat. Normally, anyone would've evaded the sword, or at least flinched. But Axel merely stood there, his face unwavering, though his eyes were staring at the dangerously close blade. Xemnas said, "Your eyes told me otherwise… You are lying." And with that, he moved the blade closer, causing Axel to tilt his head upwards a bit to avoid the piercing tip. "Y-your Majesty, I am not lying. Kill me all you want, but you would lose a great asset to achieve your eternal rule of this land."

Xemnas didn't look convinced, but since he didn't carry out the next step, Axel took it he was allowing him to continue, "Don't forget, there are rebellions out there. I was merely trying to obtain some intelligence of the rebel army's whereabouts from the girl." Axel could see a slim chance of winning, so he was out to get it no matter what, "You know, I am trying to gain her… trust…" But the more he said, the more he felt anxious about it… Obviously he was pulling off the greatest lie in his whole life, not that he was afraid he couldn't convince Xemnas, but he was worried of the girl in the dungeon… "But she didn't want to divulge anything, so I didn't progress much…"

As time ticked by, Xemnas seemed to buy his words, and he removed the sword away from Axel's neck. He put it back into the leather sheath and he returned to his throne. Axel swore he saw his whole life flashed before his eyes, and he was relieved to be able to see tomorrow… or so he thought. "Well then… it seems like you're making progress. So now I can proceed to hand down the next order…" "_No way_…" Axel exclaimed mentally.

"Since the prisoner didn't wish to divulge anything until now, so I hereby order that the girl will be sentenced to _death_ three days later, unless she gives up the intelligence."

"… Crap." That was all Axel could curse mentally at the moment. He had to do something quick, or else…

* * *

"What do you mean by telling you the hideout?" she asked, staring at Axel, who was right outside her cell. And to think she was taking a rest from the poison attack days ago, suddenly he just appeared out of nowhere and tried to convince her to tell him where the rebel army's headquarters was. Axel kept his tone serious throughout the conversation, "You have to tell me, or else something bad would happen!"

Even though her heart begged her to just confide in him, her mind was screaming at her, demanding her not to divulge any information. Should she told him anything, the whole rebel plan would crumble and every effort the rebellions put in would just vanish in thin air. The emperor would crush every single one of them with no exception, be them male or female, elderly or child. And that was one thing she didn't want to see it happening. She steeled herself and replied boldly, "I am not telling you anything."

At this point, Axel felt his nerves would snap any moment, why did this girl have to make his life so difficult? He grabbed her shoulders abruptly by extending his hands through the holes on the metal cell door. He growled, "Do you realize that you would die if you didn't do as I say?!" _All I wanted to do was to keep you safe, didn't you know that?_ She was startled by his sudden outburst, although she was speechless at first, but she mustered up all of the courage she got and stared back into his emerald orbs, stating firmly, "Do what you want, but as long as I still have a gasp of breath, I am not telling you _anything_, no matter how many times you force me to."

At a wit's end, Axel's hands went limp and fell from her shoulders, only then she realized she was trembling slightly. Was it afraid? She didn't even know. Axel looked down at the stone floor, while she looked away as well. "Why did you say that? What's wrong with you?" she thought, feeling a pang of guilt and sorrow in her confused heart. And then, he stood up slowly and turned on his heels to leave. She couldn't bring herself to look at his fading shadow, but listened to his footsteps lingering in the tense atmosphere…

"Think, Axel, think. There's gotta be some way…" Axel muttered to himself frustratingly, while pacing up and down in his room. Soon, he came to a halt beside a table, and he slammed a fist onto the table, venting his pent up frustration. Just then he heard a knock on his door. "Axel? It's me, Marluxia."

Still fuming, Axel went over to open the door, revealing a pink-haired male outside. "What do you want, Marluxia?" Axel's voice contained an evident smell of gunpowder. Marluxia merely held his hands up defensively and said, "Calm down, my friend. I can see you're in quite a dilemma here, no need to show the obvious to me." Axel sighed and went over to the table again, with his back facing Marluxia. Marulxia took it as a cue to enter, and then he sauntered over to the redhead and said, "Seeing you in such a situation, I just have a good idea to solve your problem. May I have the opportunity to enlighten you?" Axel said nothing but stared at the other man, thinking, "What is he up to?" Nevertheless, he asked, "Fire away."

Marluxia smirked, and then he came closer a little bit, saying, "I know the girl didn't wish to divulge any information, but there's no need to force her. I have a better plan…" All of a sudden, he quickly closed in and punched Axel really hard in the stomach, causing him to bent over and collapse to the floor with a sickening thud. Axel curled up; who knew Marluxia had such overwhelming strength to immobilize him like this? Axel managed to spit out some words from his gritted teeth, "Marluxia… you!" Marluxia's smirk grew bigger and crouched down beside him, revealing his "plan", "That's right, I was the one who reported to His Majesty about your strange behaviors, and prompted him to give the death sentence. Didn't I do a good job by sending the both of you to heaven altogether as a couple?"

Axel quickly threw a fist at him, but Marluxia intercepted it by catching it with his hand effortlessly. Marluxia continued, "Like so, you would be free of any worries, since you wouldn't be able to witness her demise…" Axel's glare grew intense when he saw Marluxia drew out his sword from its sheath. "Good night, Axel…"

* * *

"_Hey, who are those people?"A girl of ten years of age asked to a boy slightly older than her. The boy didn't look at her, but answered while staring at the people who were mean-looking to them, "I don't know… Wait, why are they coming at us?" This wasn't good, the people suddenly ran towards them. The boy told the girl, "… Run! Now!" Together, the children ran across grain fields, trying to escape from them. Suddenly, the girl tripped and fell down. "Ah!"_

"_There's no escape now! Ha ha ha!"One of the men said with menace, his hands almost grabbed the girl's arm. The girl screamed desperately, "… Help!" The boy quickly jumped in between the girl and the men and hit one of them forcefully with his wooden sword. The boy glared at the enemies in his fighting stance, while reassured the fallen girl, "Don't worry! I will defend you!"_

"_Why you…!" The man who was hit growled, and soon the others took the cue to step forward to capture the boy instead. The boy staggered a few steps backwards, and yelled at the girl, "Run!" "No! What about you?" The girl didn't want to leave her best friend behind in this situation. The boy managed to fight off some men, while yelling, "Don't ask, just go!" The girl stared at the events unfold before her, scared, and then she pushed herself up and ran off without looking back. And it hurt her so much._

_The toughest of them yelled while landing a strike, "Take that, you!" And with that, the boy was immobilized and thus captured. After some discussion among them, they decided to abandon the girl and take the boy instead. The girl was peeking at them after she had hidden herself among some bushes. "No!" screamed her heart, she felt some tears rolled off her cheeks. The boy couldn't move an inch but somehow, he spotted the girl from afar. Even though he was draped across one of the men's shoulder, he still did his trademark cocky smirk while mumbling softly, "I won't… forget you… I will return…"_

"_AXEL!"_

She bolted up from her sleeping spot. Her eyes were wide and she felt a cold sweat trickled down her forehead. What a nightmare… but somehow, it seemed quite familiar to her because she felt herself crying a little too. She rubbed her eyes softly while thinking, "Why do I always get this familiar feeling whenever I dream about that?" It was so familiar to the extent she felt pained to even reminisce. Who was that boy? No, correction, why did she scream "Axel"? Was that boy… him? Why…?

Her eyes widened a little as everything clicked in her mind. All the fragments of the weird dreams she had been having lately pieced together themselves, and she could finally remember, even though it had been long abandoned in her deepest part of her heart for so long. It wasn't strange for Axel to know that melody the farmers hummed, because… he was one of them… with her. They were best of friends since early childhood. Ten years ago… those men came and took him away. No wonder his fighting style (not with the Chakrams) was somewhat similar to hers.

Ten years later… she finally found him, even though that wasn't her first priority, because when time flew past, she almost forgotten about him, thinking him already dead or something. What was he doing here, serving that diabolical emperor? She felt relieved to see him alright, and she smiled a little, thinking, "Wait till I tell him that… his face would be so priceless." But, she waited and waited, something didn't seem right. It was already some time past his dungeon night shift, but he hadn't showed up yet. "That's strange… he usually isn't this late…"

As if on cue to her thoughts, a series of footsteps could be heard. She anxiously looked outside of her cell, but to her disappointment, it wasn't Axel but a pink-haired man. She started to wonder what happened to Axel, because someone seemed to have taken over his shift tonight. The pink-haired man said something to the guards, and then all the guards exited the dungeon, leaving only the both of them behind. She saw him walked over to her, but she kept a plain face, no emotions. The pink-haired man looked at her for a while, his calculating gaze slightly unnerved her. Out of the blue, he spoke, "I have something to tell you." She raised an eyebrow slightly at him, but he didn't reply at once, as if he was trying to observe her reaction. Seconds later, he cleared his throat and said, "About Axel…" She felt a small frown settled on her forehead. "… He is dead."

Her heart just shattered into a thousand pieces. Axel was _dead_? She let out a pained sigh and said, trying not to choke on the impending sobs, "Why did you… bother to tell me anything like this? What does he have to do with me?" What a lie. He merely continued, "Are you sure you are honest with that? I saw him being dragged out of his room to the emperor's throne room, and later, only a sack with red stain was dragged out…"

By now, her fists were tightly clenched, quivering. That's not true… "You…!" She could barely think before she could stop her fist shooting out to hit the person outside, he intercepted her attack easily, and he looked at her in the eye. "I am telling you the truth, it's up to you to believe or not." She tried to fight back tears, and man, it was too difficult at that moment. They streamed down her face regardless. The man spoke, "Don't be too depressed, for you will be joining him soon enough… now if you would excuse me, I have to take my leave."

And then, he released her fists from his grip, but she couldn't attack anymore, she didn't even look at him when he left the dungeon. She slid down the door, and leaned against it, resting her temple on the metal bars. She pulled her knees up and she wrapped her arms around them. She tried not to sob too loudly, even though she wanted to cry and scream out loud like an infant. She didn't know when she fell asleep, but she did remember what she mumbled through the tears – Axel. She missed that melody hummed by him so much…

When the sun rose the next day, two guards came up to her cell and unlocked the metal door. Surely they weren't here to set her free. One of them said, "Come out, time for your execution." "Execution, huh? So that's what he meant by 'joining him soon'…" Her hands were back tied. Throughout the path taken by the guards, dragging her to the town square, she didn't even bother to struggle, for she didn't have the energy, and there was no reason to do that anymore. She just found him, remembered him being so significant to her, and he was already gone before she could see him. Her last encounter with him wasn't a pleasant one either…

She didn't even remember what happened next exactly, she only knew she was forced to kneel down on a platform, with the townsfolk staring at her, mumbling among them. Maybe it was their first time to see a young girl getting executed. She didn't care anymore. She felt the sharp cold blade slowly resting on her neck when the executioner was readying his final blow. The emperor was watching from the highest platform from the palace, his face displaying no emotion whatsoever. When he looked at Saïx beside him, the blue-haired man nodded, with a hidden frown on his forehead. He announced, "Time's up. Begin the execution!"

She shut her eyes, she decided to stay tough for one last time, she straightened herself to brace against the finishing blade. "This is the end," her thoughts whispered. And just when the blade was crashing down-

"This is war!" Out of nowhere, a gang of angry mobs rushed into the anxious crowd and begin to hit everyone in sight. A fight broke out and soon everything was in chaos. Some of the angry mobs even jumped onto the execution platform and attacked the executioner by piling onto him. She snapped her eyes open and what was happening baffled her to no end. She looked everywhere, astonished. All of a sudden, she was covered by something black, maybe a black cloth or something, she struggled, but it was futile anyway. Whoever or whatever did that to her was pulling and dragging her to somewhere, judging the decrease of the volume of the chaotic surroundings, she guessed she was taken away to gods-know-where.

After some time and some futile struggling, she felt herself coming to a halt. She wriggled out of the black cloth and the light almost blinded her. Through squinted eyes, she found her captor – a person in black cloak. She suddenly felt her hands were free of ropes, so she threw a punch at him. Unfortunately, he grabbed her wrist, stopping the attack. She could use some improvement practices now, for everyone could easily counter her attacks. With another hand, the person proceeded to remove his hood, as the hood fell to his back of the head, she tried not to let her jaw drop. "Axel?! What…?" That's right; the very man before her was Axel, who she thought to be dead. She froze on the spot, unable to process whatever was happening before her.

Axel let go of her hand and said, "I know what you're thinking. I feigned death just to escape from him forever, that emperor…" He then told her the ultimate truth, as she put it: He didn't know what Marluxia was pulling off, but he didn't kill him when he drew out his sword. He merely used the handle of the sword to hit him unconscious. And when he finally woke up, he was already somewhere in the woods, far away from the palace. And he learned Marluxia's plan afterwards via a message left to him.

Marluxia was trying to seize the throne from Xemnas, and obviously as one of Xemnas's best fighters, Axel was in the way. He couldn't defeat Axel directly, but when he discovered how Axel acted around her, he got an idea how to erase Axel from his list of threat. Marluxia convinced Xemnas into believing Axel was a traitor to make him lost his trust in the redhead, so he could "wipe" him out, gaining Xemnas's trust. He did that by suggesting Xemnas to give Axel the poison for validation of Axel's behavior. And so, Xemnas lost trust in him and ordered Marluxia to eliminate him. The exchange was to set her free during the execution with the help Axel found from a bunch of violent people, which was a success, and Axel could flee with her. Marluxia promised he wouldn't go after them.

She stared at him with amazement, but then worry settled in, "But, that way we would be hunted forever by Xemnas if Marluxia didn't succeed." Axel reassured, "Don't worry. See that smoke signal?" He pointed at the sky in the direction of the palace. Indeed, there was a slim line of smoke rising up. "It's the signal from Marluxia; he had taken care of everything. We're free, _forever_."

Everything she saw turned blurry, and tears broke free from her eyes. She threw herself into his arms and she didn't care, she just cried into his shirt. He was kind of startled by her, but he returned the hug, wrapping his arms around her protectively. After she managed to calm down, she said, "I… remembered you… that song you hummed… I taught you that, back when we were living in the farms… and then you were kidnapped… I t-thought I would never see you ever again…" He smiled and patted her softly at her back, saying, "Well, I was kidnapped for forced recruitment of the new army… when I saw your fighting techniques, I think I recognized you, since I taught you all those moves. So you were still okay after all…"

She started to punch him in the chest, reprimanding, "Then why the heck you didn't even try to return to me?! You made me worried sick! Even though you almost faded in my memories…" Axel managed to grab her fist, he said, "Hey, not so hard, I'm still injured, you know. And Xemnas was such an overly skeptical person to deal with." "That's not a good excuse," she retorted, finally stopped punching him. He hugged her even tighter and said, "Silly, at least I'm here now…" She returned the hug just as tightly, not wanting to let go yet. But they had to escape to somewhere further, in case anyone came to search for the missing prisoner.

She pulled away and looked up at Axel, saying, "We'd better go now, who knows if someone was crazy enough to look for us." He let her go and she stood up and walked off first. Axel walked beside her, he joked, "But, really, I am curious, did you really cry when you heard my 'demise'?" For a second, she thought he was as annoying as the Axel ten years ago, and she replied dryly, "No." Axel didn't want to give up just yet, he pressed on, "Aw, come on, just admit it you did that! Quit the tough act." As much as she hated it, she started to blush a little, and he noticed it. He started off with a snort and then a laugh.

"That's it, you…" she thought, and then she quickly spun around and silenced him by pressing her lips onto his, catching him off guard. The once cocky Axel couldn't process what was going on, and was just staring at her with his big eyes. After three seconds or so she pulled away, a smirk of triumph on her lips. "Thank you for shutting up," she said sweetly, and then she turned on her heels and continued to walk down the path in the woods.

Well, Axel was stunned to no end, and when he finally regained composure, he could only felt the lingering tingling sensation on his lips. Axel called out to her, running to catch up, "Hey! What was that for? Do that again!" "Aw, hell NO!" They kept on squabbling while walking, further and further away into the woods, nearer and nearer to the peaceful life they had longed for. When night arrived, she felt herself safe in his arms, while sleepiness carried her away, to a faraway place, finally peaceful. With the melody humming they fell asleep together in each others' warm embrace.

**The End**


End file.
